The Birds and the Bugs
We planted a nectarine tree about five years ago for the birds and the bugs to enjoy, and they did enjoy it immensely this past summer, as evidenced by all the misshapen, half-eaten little fruits lying on the ground. Same with the apple tree, which we didn't plant because it came with our 80+ year old house. The apple tree may be close to that in age! One project on my "definite" list is to have the apple tree pruned back into shape.
Since I am not a fan of putting chemicals in my yard, and I am probably too lazy to do what the organic fruit growers do, the birds and bugs will enjoy those trees for years to come. The squirrels love the apple tree, but I've never seen them show any interest in nectarines.
September is a time for going through the garden and trying not to get upset at the mistakes of the previous spring and summer, but to keep them all in mind to fix next year. The grapes were poor this year. My fault for not pruning them earlier. But again, they are keeping the birds happy!
The red twig dogwood must be the ugliest autumn shrub; the leaves shrivel to a disgusting color and hang there, refusing to fall. But they redeem themselves in the winter when the stems turn a brilliant red that glow in the sun against the snow. Beautiful!
It's even a little hard to look at your successes, because they were so gorgeous just a month ago and now also look pretty sad. Some things still look pretty good. The sedum is especially pretty this year. The morning glories just don't want to quit. They reseed themselves each year, and this year they just exploded all over the yard.
This must have been a good year for the honeybees. I saw quite a few, and in past years it seemed like they had all but disappeared. In fact it reminded me of one more thing from childhood! Remember going barefoot and stepping on a bee? There were so many on the clover growing in the lawn, that we had to be careful not to get stung. I don't remember having to do that for many years!
Enjoy autumn while it lasts!